[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

263. Eye Movements: Eye and Head Control
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 263.14/DD14
Topic: D.06.c. Eye and head control
Support: McCormick Fellowship
NIH Program Project Grant
Title: Eye movement performance during training predicts learned changes in timing
Authors: *S.-L. SHIN, J. L. RAYMOND;
Dept Neurobiol, Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA
Abstract: Motor learning can induce changes in both the amplitude and timing of movements to
optimize motor performance. The eye movements driven by the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)
can be altered by 30 min of visual-vestibular training. A decrease in VOR gain (amplitude of eye
movement relative to head movement) can be induced by pairing vestibular stimulation with
movement of a visual stimulus exactly with the head (called x0 training, since the ideal VOR
gain to stabilize the image would be zero). In mice, x0 training induces not only a decrease in
VOR gain, but also a phase lead (eye movement advances head movement). This phase change is
apparently maladaptive, since it does not improve image stabilization. We evaluated whether a
phase lead is a necessary byproduct of the changes supporting VOR gain decreases or whether it
reflects an independent process in the circuit. Here we show that a subtle change in the visualvestibular
training stimulus (x0.2 training) yielded a pure decrease in gain, with no significant
change in phase. Thus, VOR gain changes are not necessarily accompanied by a change in VOR
phase. We analyzed the eye movements and retinal image motion present during x0, x0.2, and
closely-related training paradigms. Our results suggest that the phase of the tracking eye
movements during visual-vestibular training influence the induction of changes in VOR phase.
Disclosures: S. Shin , None; J.L. Raymond, None.
Poster
263. Eye Movements: Eye and Head Control
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 263.15/DD15